Standing in line at the pizza place, you’ve got a couple of minutes to kill, so you stare down at your phone, and fire up. Rather than browsing through a long list of inane tweets or matching jewel colors up against each other, you can actually be using that time productively.

Learn something new

Image: Duolingo

Apps like Duolingo and Memrise, put a complete set of foreign langualearning tools in your pocket. A ton of language learning apps are available, but what we like about those two in particular is they let you dip in and out of exercises, and set you small challenges that you can tick off each day.

Minimizing your Bluetooth usage minimizes your exposure to very real vulnerabilities. That includes an attack called BlueBorne, announced this week by the security firm Armis, which would allow any affected device with Bluetooth turned on to be attacked through a series of vulnerabilities. The flaws aren’t in the Bluetooth standard itself, but in its implementation in all sorts of software. Windows, Android, Linux, and iOS have been vulnerable to BlueBorne in the past. Millions could still be at risk.

Mobile payments are the future, so we’re told. Apple, Google, and Android all want you surviving on nothing but their products—your financial data safely stored on an NFC chip inside. While not every store in the US supports it, most of them do. Same with the banks. We’ve run though everything, from which banks and stores support smartphone pay to which app to use. So read on so you can stop reaching for your wallet every time you want a coffee.

Just yesterday, WhatsApp celebrated yet another milestone: one billion daily active users. According to its blog post, there are now 55 billion messages, 4.5 billion photos, and one billion videos being sent and shared every day amongst WhatsApp users. Indeed, what started out as a simple idea between two former Yahoo employees has become a global phenomenon. But what exactly makes this messaging app so great?

All it takes is a moment of carelessness, an open handbag or an opportunist pickpocket and your smartphone can disappear from right under your nose. Here are some of the things you should do if your smartphone gets stolen this summer.

Act quickly
It’s highly likely that your smartphone was stolen while it was switched on and ready to use. Quickly call your mobile operator to get your line blocked before the thief has the time to use it. That will prevent any ..